January 15, 2014

H7N9 overshadows Chinese New Year

As millions of Chinese prepare to return to their hometowns for Spring Festival, the challenges of containing the latest H7N9 bird flu epidemic have come sharply into focus.

Health authorities are deeply concerned by the resurgent epidemic, with about twenty new cases reported in the first two weeks of 2014, mostly in eastern costal regions. About 150 cases of H7N9 bird flu have been confirmed in China since the first case in March last year.

The virus is more active in winter and spring, and high density transportation in coaches, trains and aircraft could create "favorable circumstances" for the epidemic to spread, according to Li Lanjuan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Li is China's leading researcher on bird flu and a member of the H7N9 prevention and control group. She warns that the virus might be spread by migrants returning to their, mainly rural, homes from developed eastern regions.

TRAVEL RUSH

During the world' s biggest annual human migration in the 40 days around Spring Festival, about 3.62 billion trips will be made this year, according to Tuesday's National Development and Reform Commission press release.

This year, the highlight of Spring Festival, Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 31. It is the most important Chinese occasion for family reunions.

"We are worried about the risk brought by massive numbers of people gathering together in confined spaces," said Dr. Liang Weifeng of the medical college at Zhejiang University.

In Zhejiang, new H7N9 cases have been reported for six consecutive days. As of Tuesday, the eastern province had reported a total of eleven, including some fatalities. Zhejiang was also the site of China's first confirmed human-to-human transmission last November, when a man was infected while caring for his father-in-law.

More alarming still, Guizhou Province in the remote southwest of the country confirmed its first H7N9 fatality on Saturday; that of a migrant worker who returned from Zhejiang on Jan. 4.

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As millions of Chinese prepare to return to their hometowns for Spring Festival, the challenges of containing the latest H7N9 bird flu epidemic have come sharply into focus.

Health authorities are deeply concerned by the resurgent epidemic, with about twenty new cases reported in the first two weeks of 2014, mostly in eastern costal regions. About 150 cases of H7N9 bird flu have been confirmed in China since the first case in March last year.

The virus is more active in winter and spring, and high density transportation in coaches, trains and aircraft could create "favorable circumstances" for the epidemic to spread, according to Li Lanjuan of the Chinese Academy of Engineering.

Li is China's leading researcher on bird flu and a member of the H7N9 prevention and control group. She warns that the virus might be spread by migrants returning to their, mainly rural, homes from developed eastern regions.

TRAVEL RUSH

During the world' s biggest annual human migration in the 40 days around Spring Festival, about 3.62 billion trips will be made this year, according to Tuesday's National Development and Reform Commission press release.

This year, the highlight of Spring Festival, Chinese Lunar New Year, falls on Jan. 31. It is the most important Chinese occasion for family reunions.

"We are worried about the risk brought by massive numbers of people gathering together in confined spaces," said Dr. Liang Weifeng of the medical college at Zhejiang University.

In Zhejiang, new H7N9 cases have been reported for six consecutive days. As of Tuesday, the eastern province had reported a total of eleven, including some fatalities. Zhejiang was also the site of China's first confirmed human-to-human transmission last November, when a man was infected while caring for his father-in-law.

More alarming still, Guizhou Province in the remote southwest of the country confirmed its first H7N9 fatality on Saturday; that of a migrant worker who returned from Zhejiang on Jan. 4.